If It’s Yellow…

Being a green printer and having been involved in the business of eco-friendly printing since 1987, I am keenly interested in all aspects of conservation.

Our offset printing presses use water, but not very much. However the paper-making process, including the manufacture of recycled paper, uses so much water that the mills must maintain their own wastewater treatment facilities. Water conservation and use issues are frequently on my mind. So it was that I had wandered into a department store here in drought-stricken Raleigh the other day, and found myself in the restroom in front of the urinals.

Now, let me begin by telling you that I don’t flush public toilets, or any other toilets, after a pee. It’s just wasteful, and I wasn’t brought up to be wasteful. Looking around, I noticed that at least one other citizen of Raleigh, NC must be thinking the same way, as the urinal neighboring mine was not filled with clear water either. As I was doing my business, a fellow shopper approached the aforementioned unrinal, and the FIRST THING HE DID WAS FLUSH THE TOILET!

While I was digesting the concept that one couldn’t even bring themselves to urinate into a toilet without flushing it FIRST, I finished my business and stepped back in time to hear my friend flush for the second time. As I washed my hands, a new urinal patron arrived, and promptly flushed the urinal that I had just used! I left before I had to bear the inevitable second flush.

Mind you, the Governor of NC is begging us to conserve water, and our reservoirs are looking more and more like mud-puddles every day. Every urinal flush uses almost a gallon of water, while a standard water-saving toilet uses 1.6 gallons per. Even I will agree they need to be flushed from time to time, but my nose tells me that up to 8 hours of percolating creates no noticable unpleasantness, and if you don’t want to look at it just close the lid! The ladies of the house will thank you for that, anyway. So please, If you are one of these people that can’t bear to leave their waste in anything but crystal clear, fresh water, please post a reply and tell me why! I want to understand… really I do.